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Will Dean

Founder and CEO of Tough Mudder, Inc.

At A Glance

Will Dean is the Founder and CEO of Tough Mudder, Inc. a family
of brands, which includes: Tough Mudder Half, an obstacle challenge
bringing the thrills of Tough Mudder to a 5-mile course; Mini
Mudder, a custom obstacle course event for children

Categories

Will Dean is the Founder and CEO of Tough Mudder, Inc. a family
of brands, which includes: Tough Mudder Half, an obstacle challenge
bringing the thrills of Tough Mudder to a 5-mile course; Mini
Mudder, a custom obstacle course event for children ages 7-12;
Toughest Mudder, the eight-hour, overnight competitive series;
World’s Toughest Mudder, a grueling 24-hour endurance
competition; as well as an extremely vibrant and engaging social
and digital destination for leading fitness, nutrition and wellness
content delivered across multiple platforms. With more than 2.5
million participants to date, Tough Mudder Inc. will produce more
than 130 events worldwide in 2017 across four continents, including
Asia and the Middle East through its partnerships with Seroja and
IMG.

As CEO, Will oversees the daily operations of more than 150
employees, working from the headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, and
expansion offices in London and Melbourne. In early 2017 Will
received an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British
Empire) seal from the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, for
services to charitable giving through sport. He has also been named
to Crain’s Annual 40 Under 40 List, was included on
Fortune’s 40 Under 40: Ones to Watch list, was
awarded Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 for 2017,
and received the National EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Emerging
Award. Will was also awarded the WWP Talkhouse Award for his
service efforts. Tough Mudder has been repeatedly featured on
Crain’s Fast 50 list and was recently named #65 on
the Inc. 500 list.

Will is a graduate of Harvard Business School (MBA). At 28,
Will, then a second-year MBA candidate at Harvard Business School,
came up with the idea for Tough Mudder while sitting in his dorm
room and submitted a proposal to Harvard Business School's Business
Plan Contest. In 2010—less than a year later—Tough Mudder’s
first event was held at a ski resort in Pennsylvania. Since its
founding, Tough Mudder has grown 3250% and established itself as
the premier adventure challenge series in the world. Tough Mudder
participants have collectively raised more than $12 million for
charities worldwide.

Prior to founding Tough Mudder, Will worked as a
counterterrorism officer at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
and founded two other companies. A native of Great Britain, Will
grew up in the Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England, where his
family still lives and is a graduate of the University of Bristol
(BSc). He is a keen sportsman and has competed in marathons and
triathlons on three different continents. He splits his time
working out of Tough Mudder’s office in London and the
company’s HQ office in Brooklyn, New York.

Will currently resides in London with his family.

Will Dean on CNBC

Tough Mudder takes on Asia, Middle East: FOX News

Will Dean of Tough Mudder: Dr. Woody Interview

Tough Mudder CEO on Changes to Courses in 2015: Varneyco

Will Dean has kept the same title for more than seven years, but
boredom is not a factor. As co-founder and CEO of Tough Mudder, he
first experienced the frantic early days, trying to keep up with
explosive growth as the obstacle… Read more

For anyone who’s been living under a rock these past four years,
Tough Mudder is the enormously popular endurance event series which
launched in obscurity in 2010 and has since gone on to attract over
1.3 million participants and is today valued… Read more

Tough Mudder, the company that organizes grueling assault course
races, has signed a multimillion-pound sponsorship deal with
Lucozade. Will Dean, founder and chief executive of Tough Mudder,
said that twice as many people in the UK now take part in its
events… Read more